In an age where shooters usually consist of three dimensions, space aliens and super powers, it is hard to imagine there was ever a time when bullets consisted of a single on-screen pixel. You could travel back as far as the Atari 2600 era, to find this true of the classic wild west shooter, Outlaw. Thirty six years later, Atari is trying to re-introduce the brand to a whole new generation of gamers, thanks to iOS. Does the game manage to live up to the legacy of its predecessor, or does it end up leaving players high and dry?

It is becoming more and more obvious that Atari is looking for a way to make their ancient intellectual properties new again. This Outlaw remake is their most recent attempt at squeezing a few more drops of water out of sandstone. Staying true to the shooter roots, this iteration of Outlaw has been reborn as a free-to-play virtual shooting gallery, set in the days of digging for gold, sipping on moonshine, and taking the law into your own hands.

For some reason, it is assumed that no pretext is necessary for the hell that players are unleashing on their fellow settlers. All that needs to be known is that they are shooting and it needs to be brought to a stop in the most brutal way possible. Expanding from a small pea shooter to a wide arsenal of different firearms, players are encouraged to purchase and upgrade the weapons necessary to help keep their neck out of a noose. As the stages progress, enemies become more difficult to dispatch, even after taking multiple shots to the skull. Hence the need for constantly improving the firearms in your holster.

There are several different stages that are unlocked through leveling up or can be purchased for real coin. Each stage is a essentially nothing more than a different backdrop for enemies to appear from behind. It would have been nice to see the change in scenery play a more active role in the strategy of the combat, but really how much can you expect from a glorified shooting gallery?

Atari has succeeded in making Outlaw a far more palatable experience for iOS gamers. Unfortunately, they didn't try to do enough to help set the game apart from the crowd. The result is a forgettable shooter that doesn't achieve anything other than being unremarkable. Saddle on up and pass this game by.

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iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

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